The following article is the
fourth and final part of an interview conducted on August 7, 2009 in
St. Catharines, Ontario, Canada, with Såzen Larsen Kusano
Sensei of the Sugino branch of Katori Shinto Ryu. In this article,
Såzen Sensei shares with our readers his conceptualization of
some of the fundamental ideas in the Sugino-style of Katori Shinto
Ryu swordsmanship.Author’s
note: My sincere thanks to Såzen Sensei for his time and
generosity in allowing me to interview him at length about his art
and his thoughts.

Question:
In the first of your seminars, you had mentioned the concept of “meat
and bones”. What is this all about?
Sensei: In
all kata practice, you’ll find sequences of techniques. To me,
all these techniques represent what I call the “bones”.
So, for
example, one form or kata would be like the bones of the arm, say.
And in the arm, you cannot alter the order of the bones. They are
pre-set. The finger bones are where they are supposed to be, etc…
Each of
these bones, each of these techniques, needs to be studied,
understood, perfected.

About the
order*, forget the order.
(* i.e., the order of the techniques
in a kata)

The order
does not always make sense. It’s like spelling out the alphabet
from A – Z. The letters by themselves don’t make any
sense. But they’re all needed in learning how to read and
write.
Just like
understanding all the various techniques. They make up the “fabric”
of the school.
It’s
just a way of practice.* Follow the bones.
(* i.e., kata is just a method to
“frame” the practicing of techniques.)

Question:
And the meat?
Sensei:
The “meat” is when to do what and how. But
the combination, they inter-depend, just like in the arm example I
gave before.

Without
the bones, there is no arm.
Without
the meat, there is no arm.

An arm is
defined by its function. It moves this way, that way, up, and down.
We move the arm freely because we have meat and bones. Remove one
or the other and by definition, it’s not an arm anymore.

Question:
You have mentioned previously about swordsmanship as a form of
“communication”. Can you elaborate on this?
Sensei: In
order to fight someone, to practice fighting with someone, you need
to communicate.
You look
at a person, look at what he’s doing or what he’s trying
to do. What is he communicating to you?
Does he
communicate fear? Does he communicate power? Does he communicate
contempt? Does he communicate anger?

All this,
you’re often able to “notice” by
looking.
Then,
sword meeting sword, what you can’t see, you can feel.

“communication”
(Såzen Sensei
“communicating” to Mr. Tong)

His skill
or lack of skill. He is communicating this quite clearly.
His
intention. Does he want to hurt you? Is he scared of you?
You can
understand this by being able to feel his sword, blade on blade.

“feeling the sword”

Question:
In your second seminar, you talked about “L-M-R”. Can you
explain for sword practitioners what this acronym means?
Sensei: L
stands for “look”. M stands for “move”. R
stands for “respond”.

Question:
How does the concept of “L-M-R” apply to swordsmanship?
Sensei:
“Looking” is essential. But it’s very
difficult to fight with swords if you can’t “see”. So you
need to develop “eyes”, meaning “right
observation”.

What do I
look for?
Where do I
look at?
What do I
look at?

Observing,
looking, when someone is attacking outside the bones,
freely, not in an order, meaning you don’t know where the
attack is coming.
The most
important tool you have is your eyes.
By being
patient, you look.

“Look”(Sugino Yukihiro Sensei)

You “look”
when the attack is on its way.
Only when
you have an image on when the attack is coming, and where
the opponent is attacking you, then you can “move”
out of the way.
If you
don’t know where the blow is coming, how can you possibly move?

So correct
observation means looking. Look at the opponent. Then based on that
observation, you move out of the way. Once you’re out of the
way, you “respond” with a block or a
counter-attack.

“Respond”
(Kusano Eri Sensei)

So that’s
why every time the opponent is moving in, L-M-R is essential.

Question:
Are there any final words you would like to share with our readers?
Sensei:
Yes. In the old school of kendo that I represent, the main objective
is not to hit (i.e., cut, stab, or hurt) your opponent, but to
develop the necessary skills.

Finally, I
would like to share a Japanese expression with you. It is “shō
jin”. In Japanese, it means “work hard and
improve”.

“shō jin”(calligraphy written by Såzen
Sensei)

So please
everyone work hard, have fun, be safe, and enjoy.

Question:
Thank you once again, Sensei, for your time and patience with this
lengthy interview. It was a great opportunity to discuss Shinto Ryu
and the many interesting things about it.
Sensei:
Not at all. You are very welcome!